It is close to the end of the school year, and I want to review the inferencing we've been practicing with an interesting method that's built for the skill....the Crime Scene. It's an interactive and exciting way for the kids to put themselves directly in a natural situation for drawing conclusions about an event.

The crime scene map the kids are using is one I create after I have actually made the crime scene in the other room. I want them to recognize the scene as soon as they walk through the door in the next section.

The crime scene is all ready to go in an empty classroom in the 5th grade cove. I figure out how I want the crime scene to look like, then make a copy of the layout as a worksheet-Crime Scene Map- for the kids to use for the warm up. I include as many details as possible. It's a great moment when the kids walk in and recognize it from the papers they were using to infer. I half expected them to recognize the shape of the room in the Crime Scene Map, but managed to throw them off enough to make it a complete shock when they literally walked into the real life scene. Just what I wanted!

I keep them in the crime scene room so they can better explain their inferences and hypotheses about what happened. The kids sit on the floor (most likely the crime scene is taking up regular seating) or stand to the side while the person or group presenting "conducts their investigation results" to the rest. Many of them wanted to take their turn standing behind the yellow tape in the Crime Scene to share their theory of what happened that fateful day. It's perfect to end the lesson this way because the kids are proud of their inferences and can't wait to let everyone know. Citing evidence is an important skill of CCS and this is an outstanding way to encourage students to exercise that skill with enthusiasm.

Hi Heather, I am loving this lesson! What a great way to engage the students and have fun at the same time! I was wondering if you would be willing to email me copies of the materials that go with the lesson. (I'm unable to download them for some reason.) I would love to do this with my 4th graders. Also, what was your version of the story for what happened? smithereyenes@darientel.net Thanks!

Thanks for your interest in this lesson. Rather than give the kids a story about the crime scene, I put together the scene in whatever extra classroom is available, then create the worksheet showing the scene in as much detail as possible. Have a loose idea of what could have happened, but the theories your students will come up with will be fabulous, and you can always grab onto one of their ideas if your kids demand a solution. Please email me your address so I can directly send you the restricted worksheets. They should not be restricted, so I don't know how to release them. It's easiest for you to tell me what you need and I'll send an attachment.

Is there a story or details that go along with the crime scene? Did you tell the students if there assumptions were correct or who committed the crime? Also, may I have access to the restricted documents?

Hi! Is there anyway you could email me these documents? I would love to do this with my 5th graders but all of the documents are restricted. armullen@jmcss.org" target="_blank" >jmcss.org">armullen@jmcss.org Thank you so much!

Thanks for writing! They all work when I sign in as myself, and as a colleague. Thanks for telling me the section to concentrate on- I'll be sure to pass this info on to BetterLesson. In the meantime, I'll send you the two Word Documents I use for this lesson. The other highlighted parts in the Warm Up section are just pictures of my students doing the activity.

Ok, I checked as thoroughly as I can from my end, but nothing seems out of the ordinary. Please tell me the exact documents you're unable to download and I'll email them to you as attachments. I'll also let BetterLesson know so we can figure out the problem. My school email is hrobinson@susd.org .

Hi Heather. I was hoping to see some of your supporting documents for this inference activity, but some are restricted. Would you be willing to grant me permission to view. I am a Title I teacher for K-8. I have a family night coming up and thought this would be a great activity for students and parents to do together (have been working on inferences with 7-8 students).

Hi Heather. I was hoping to see some of your supporting documents for this inference activity, but some are restricted. Would you be willing to grant me permission to view. I am a Title I teacher for K-8. I have a family night coming up and thought this would be a great activity for students and parents to do together (have been working on inferences with 7-8 students).